Fate and Desire Collide
by Kiomia Sartah
Summary: Strange Girl in a Strange world meeting the boy of her dreams, but is it meant to be?


-**Chapter One: **The Fall

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or Heroes 4 of Might and Magic and if you have no idea what that is, then Google it, it's a really good game and I got the idea for this story from one of the Campaigns; I do however own Crystal, Sleet, and Aron……… that's about it.

A young teenage elf ran down the path in the forest towards her tree-castle home, as her long brown locks flew out behind her, three white tigers chased after her, but they seemed to have smiles on their faces, or what ever smiles looked like on Tigers. The girl just continued to run along the path even though she knew she was going to be caught and brought before the Elder Elven Counsel for the prank that she had pulled on them during a 'very important' meeting. The meeting was actually with her father and the Elder Counsel wanted to know of his plans for a successor, her older half-brother to take the throne, or herself, Crystal, Princess of Aranorn, and daughter of Elwin and Shaera.

Aside from herself there was only one elf that was legible to take the throne, and that was her older half-brother, Aron. He was her half brother only because his father had placed a spell on their mother to make her love him while Elwin, her father, was out in the wilderness trying to create a magic mirror that would show her True-Love and break the spell. Aron was raised by Elwin and Shaera after his father was captured and put into prison for life, until he died while in prison.

The whole reason why Crystal was even running from her childhood friends was because of a 'harmless' prank that she pulled. Crystal laughed her musical laugh as she was tackled by the strong muscles of three Tigers, then they got up off of her and she willingly followed them back to the 'scene of the crime.'

When she got back to the Counsel room, she chuckled at the 'war' scene before her, every Counsel member, even her Father, was drenched from head to toe in magical water that made anyone drenched in it smell like they were attacked by Venom Spawns, that stench would be the equivalent of about seven skunks.

Then she was confronted by both her father and her father's mentor, Menathat, they then proceeded to lecture her about 'a Princess' behavior,' but Elwin knew better than to lecture her about something that she won't even listen to, let alone remember the next time, so he merely stood by and gave her a stern, but not too stern, annoyed glare, as he was trying to refrain from smirking at the prank that his daughter had pulled on the entire Counsel.

-X-X-X-X-

Later that very same day in the evening, as Elwin was leaning in the doorway to his daughter's room, when his daughter came up behind him and surprised him with a hug, which surprised him considering that her punishment for her little stunt earlier that day had earned her a week of training with her potions' master, whom she severely disliked.

"Papa, would you please tell me about your adventures with momma, again, I know that I'm too old to hear them, but I still want to hear them, Aron says that I'm too sentimental about it, but I think that's just because of what all has happened in his own life," the teenager (by human years) elf spoke as she dragged her 'papa' to the chair next to her bed as she clambered into her bed, with the pure white dress she had worn that day.

"You're not too sentimental, Aron's just jealous that he can't say the same thing to me without feeling like a woman," the man teased his adoptive son to his daughter, "but I would be more than happy to tell you this story once again, and I won't leave anything out. Well, I had first met your mother at meetings that her father attended, and I attended them because my master, Menathat, wished me to do so well as it happens I got myself shanghaied into going across the sea to another land to solve a dispute with your grandfather. I only stayed on that wretched boat for the sake of Shaera and tried to romance her to the best of my abilities, so one night I knocked out the look-out man in the crow's nest so that Shaera and I could enjoy the stars together in peace, with out being disturbed. We were attacked by Pirates, and if I hadn't been foolish enough to do what I did, then there wouldn't have been the need for me to whisk Shaera onto one of the life boats, to protect her, and land on the shores of the land we were traveling to.

"I had knew that the port we were heading to was just up shore and called Dolphin Jump, so I decided to head up that way, on the way I became responsible for many different settlements, and when Shaera seemed in poor spirits, I cheered her up, when we finally had reached Dolphin Jump, Shaera ran into the arms of her father, who did not like me at all back then. When we got back home to Aranorn, Shaera and I would see each other every chance we had, and eventually I was then sent to try and convince the Tigers to join the ranks among the elves, so I went, half to impress Shaera's father, half honor-bound duty.

"While I was with the Tigers I learned that their cubs were born dead because a necromancer was stealing their life energy for his dark intentions, I defeated him , and when I got back to Aranorn again, I learned that Lord Harke had slipped your mother a potion that made her love him, my life was spared by Harke's first in command, and I spent a long while constructing a mirror that would show your mother her true love and break the spell she was under. When I freed her of Lord Harke's spell she was already with child, your older brother, by then I had found the Elven king's bow, and was then king of the elves so when I heard of where he was hiding I went after him, found him, and imprisoned him, he died when your brother was about your age, though why you are not but a toddler, I'll never know."

"Papa!" Crystal shoved her father teasingly out of his chair, and as he fell to the floor laughing, a shadow filled the doorway and in it stood Aron.

"Aron!" A surprised Elwin got up from the floor and went after him, this however gave Crystal the perfect opportune moment to get out of bed, transfigure some leaves or something to look like her, stick it under her covers, and sneak out the window of her room. When she was on the ground she ran straight for the stables where her griffon, Sleet, was there waiting for her command. Sleet had the rare color of black for his feathers and his Lion-like body was a deep brown, something she did not know however was that a bird that her mother had given her father named Breeze had been watching her per request of her father.

As Crystal was changing her clothes from her pure white dress to more 'practical' clothes; knee high brown leather boots, forest green skin-tight leggings with a leather loin-cloth like design of a skirt held up by a leather belt with a sword forged from Dragon fangs hooked on the left side, her chest was covered by dragon scale armor that covered her breasts and left her stomach bare and also covered her left arm in the Dragon armor, her right arm was covered by a Mithrel finger-less glove that went up to her upper arm. When she was all armored up she got on Sleet who wore no saddle as usual for Crystal and they took off into the night sky with Breeze and his golden feathers following.

It wasn't long until Crystal fell asleep atop Sleet trusting that when he got tired he would merely head home, but Sleet got tired soon after his master fell asleep and didn't trust his strength to get them safely back home, so he touched down in a clearing in the forest that they had been flying over. As soon as they touched down rebel elves loyal to the dead Lord Harke attacked Crystal and Sleet for she was the daughter of their leader's captor and killer, so they tied the elf princess to a nearby tree and drugged the griffon so that he couldn't fly away for help. As they were dealing with Sleet, Crystal woke up from her nap and saw that Sleet was in trouble so she used her fire magic and burned the ropes, but didn't burn her for her clothes were magic-proof. Then she quietly stood and snuck over to where the bandits were and used some Necromancy to poison them and kill them, then she went up to Sleet and got on his back, not knowing that he was drugged, they tried to take off, but couldn't get more than a few feet off the ground.

Finally after a few tries did Sleet get a little higher into the air, when suddenly he fell, and there was no ground close enough to land safely on, so they fell and fell right through a portal that had ripped open right in their path and they landed on ground surrounded by trees that Crystal did not know. She looked beneath her to see if Sleet was alright but he wasn't moving, Crystal started to look around for someone who could help them, but the only thing she saw with her Elven vision was a father and two baby manticores eyeing her like a piece of meat, which to them she probably was.

As the three manticores (1) began to run toward the elf and her griffon, Breeze who had followed them through the portal came up and sat on one of Sleet's claws and cawed at him, his eyes fluttered open and he looked at the little golden hawk as he told the giant black griffon what was happening. Crystal, who was too occupied to pay attention to the birds, was thinking of any spell she could use then she remembered that she still had her Dragon fang sword named Elemir, she drew her sword and turned to face the manticores head-on.

The two baby manticores reached her first and with one fluid movement she lopped off both of their heads, the father manticore roared in anger and ran faster towards her and Crystal leaped up into the air when he got close enough and landed on his back on her feet and as she swung Elemir, the manticore's tail came swooshing up and as Elemir bit into the Manticore's neck, killing him, his tail hit Crystal in the back, with all his poisonous barbs, as Crystal was walking back to where Sleet was still recovering with Breeze she collapsed on top of Sleet and was rendered unconscious by the poison. Sleet, doing all he could at the moment, began to walk to where he believed was the end of these strange unfamiliar trees, with Breeze flying lowly beside them.

**Author's Notes: **

1) Manticores have the body of a lion, the wings of a dragon, and a vaguely human face, with a mere flick of its tail, the manticore can shoot a volley of poisonous spikes, that's just some info about manticores for anyone who doesn't know what they are.


End file.
